1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to animal traps and more particularly to disposable rodent traps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Removal of mice and rats from conventional rodent traps is repulsive to many people. Likewise the resetting of traps, once used, is particularly abhorrent to health-conscious individuals. Rebaiting and resetting such traps, of necessity, requires the operator to touch areas of the trap with which the rodent has previously made contact. Besides being an unsanitary procedure, such procedure can be dangerous in that it is well known that rodents are carriers of many diseases. Additionally, the setting of the trap which deals a lethal blow to an animal causes anxiety in a number of individuals because of the triggering sensitivity in combination with the sharp blow dealt.
To overcome the problems of visual repulsion and the problem of contamination, a number of traps have been invented, some of which are disposable. Box-like traps which are operable to catch an animal live are typified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,648,160 issued to H. J. Boedecker; 1,798,541 issued to J. Kleffman and 2,754,618 issued to H. W. Denabursky. These traps have the disadvantages of not being disposable and, more importantly being dependent upon a triggering mechanism which is independent from the bait. That is, the bait may be taken from the trap because of a malfunctioning or insensitive triggering mechanism. Loss of bait without capturing the animal is indeed a common experience associated with traps having a triggering mechanism independent of the bait.
More recently, disposable traps utilizing an adhesive for trapping the pests have been devised. Illustrative of such traps are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,962,836 issued to S. T. Hughes; 3,398,478 issued to R. E. Parsall and 4,244,134 issued to H. J. Otterson. Such traps may or may not be effective, depending upon the wariness of the animal and the placement and quality of its adhesive properties. Furthermore, if it is desirable to capture an animal alive for research or other reasons, it is obvious that the adhesive may render the animal unsuitable for such use.